Friday, 10 July 2015

my love it kills me slowly

I've been trying to come up with as many ways as possible to wear black in the summer, which is turning out to be surprisingly easy given that most of the clothes I've bought recently are black, as my mum likes to remind me whenever we go shopping and I protest that "it's not a phase mum." It isn't a phase, it's a lifestyle.

“Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don’t bother you - don’t bother me".”- Yohji Yamamoto. I'm too fickle with obsessions and aesthetics to subscribe to it entirely and obviously I do wear colours other than black, but I still love it for the reasons that Yamamoto describes. It can sometimes be boring, but I think of it as a blank canvas to elaborate on with different shapes and textures.

I bought this top when I went shopping on Brick Lane a couple of weeks ago. It was a successful day as I got the clothes I needed for summer, but I realised that I find vintage clothes shopping so stressful. One shop I can deal with but when you spend the whole day sifting through rails and rails of sometimes dusty clothes, it is so draining. I abhor fast fashion, but slip into the habit of feeding into it when I can't find something elsewhere. Earlier this week I found myself in the shoe section in New Look for the first time in around four years, but I found some gorgeous chunky black sandals for a really reasonable price. I feel guilty when I buy fast fashion, but it's the same kind of moral dilemma I faced when I went from being vegan to vegetarian which I rationalised by realising that one person alone rarely saves the world, just as one person alone rarely destroys it. I sometimes think that there is an unfair amount of pressure and responsibility put on the consumer, when it is the big corporations profiting from mass exploitation of humans, animals and natural resources causing the really significant problems. Of course we should all do what we can, but there is a limit on our ability to do so. I think that the most important thing is to raise consciousness. Films like "The True Cost", which I have yet to watch, are a step in the right direction. I do love vintage clothes and my whole wardrobe would be vintage if it could, but I actually think that I find the same amount of satisfaction sorting through the clothing rails in the charity shops in my town. It's quicker, cheaper and, because you have to sort through more ghastly pieces before finding something perfect, it feels more rewarding.